The invention relates to apparatus for trimming the ends of wires and inserting the trimmed ends into the wire receiving slots in electrical contact terminals which are contained in an electrical connector. The invention thus relates to wire insertion apparatus of the general class disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,845,535 and 3,758,935. The instant invention is particularly intended to insert the wires into the terminals of each module of a stack of connector modules of the general type disclosed and claimed in application Ser. No. 630,589.
Co-pending application Ser. No. 630,589 discloses and claims an improved modular type multicontact electrical connector for forming semi-permanent electrical connections between the individual wires of two groups or bundles of wires. Stackable modular electrical connectors of this type are widely used in the telecommunications industry for connecting the wires in the adjacent ends of two sections of multi-conductor cable.
The modular connector shown in Application Ser. NO. 630,589 possesses many advantages in its own right, one such advantage being that the wires being connected to each other can be inserted into the terminals in a connector by means of an insertion and assembly tool in accordance with the instant invention. It should be explained that cable splicing operations are extremely time consuming and in many instances fatiguing to the technician. When the end of one cable section having, say, 3,000 pairs of wires therein is spliced to an adjacent section of cable, the technician must make 6,000 separate electrical connections between corresponding wire pairs in the ends of the two cable sections. These cable splicing operations are, moreover, carried out under relatively adverse working conditions such as the cramped quarters of a manhole, in the case of underground cables, or on an elevated platform, in the case of an arial cable.
The introduction of several new cable splicing techniques during recent years has substantially reduced the time required and the fatique accompanying cable splicing operations, however, the magnitude of the number of connections made in such operations provides a continuing spur to the development of more rapid, more convenient, and less fatiguing tooling and methods for the procedure.
The instant invention is directed to the achievement of a wire trimming and inserting tool for trimming the ends of wires and inserting the trimmed ends into each of the electrical terminals in each module of a stack of modules of a connector assembly. The invention is further directed to the achievement of an improved trimming and inserting tool for use with stacked connector modules of the type used in the telecommunication industry, a preferred form of tool in accordance with the invention including not only means for trimming and inserting the wires but in addition, improved wire positioning and locating means and means for assembling the modules of a connector assembly to each other.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus for trimming the ends of wires and inserting the trimmed ends into the terminals of an electrical connector. A further object is to provide a tool which is adapted to be used to insert wires into each module in a stack of modules. A still further object is to provide a wire trimming and inserting tool which will be convenient and handy to use under the circumstances commonly encountered in cable splicing operations.